How many babies make it to 6 months on milk alone?

[ThomasTankEngine]

My HV says only 2 in 500.

I am struggling with a DS at 15 weeks, at 16lb, so far fully BF.
Anyone have any accurate figures?

And what percentage of MUMs are BLW-ing?

all my 3 did without any problems whatsoever - all big babies, too (ranging from 9lb 4 oz to 10lb)

My eldest had bad eczema and was exclusively breastfed for nearly 8 months - she was always a really big fat baby.

reckon your HV is talking shite!

Don't beat about the bush geekgirl

Expressing is a bit of a PITA (I'm only on MN just now because I'm anchored to the f;ipping pump again!)

TTE, I found 12-18 weeks really hard going, my LO was pulling off and bobbing back on relentlessly, screaming, unhappy, windy, vomiting, basically not a nice time. But we are through it and she will be exclusively BF to 6 months (next week! Then she is getting some carrot sticks, a banana, and a bottle of formula at 11pm - I am going to convert over to formula so that I can return to shift work at 9 months).

Have to say, I have been unbelievably stubborn about it, and am not sure that waiting to the day after she is 6 months is really necessary, but I will be disappointed with myself if I dont make it now, only 7 days to go!

My dd3 made it to 6 months with no problem and didn't take to solids for a couple of months at least. So her main source of nutrition was bm for all that time.

all mine did (ds1 and dd) and prob will ds2 being 19 wks and not eating solids aside from taking a swipe of my banana and digging it...

ds1 was 19lbs at 6 mths and still was not keen on anything but breastmilk but boy he did feed often

dd was happy to wait and happy to start at 6 mths

ds2 is 19wks nearly 17lbs and happy on boob alone, sleeps well etc showing no signs at all of needing more

My 4 1/2 month DS went through a massive growth spurt a few weeks' ago after sleeping through the night for about 6 weeks. He's now back to normal again although he's feeding a bit more in the day still. It was hard getting through that (and I considered weaning more than once) but I'm really glad I did. I hope to keep going until 6 months now

My DS made it to 6 mths on milk, but it was formula from 4 months. He was breast fed from birth, then I swapped to formula and it made a huge difference in the length of time he would go between feeds, and his general contentment.

I'm the only person I know who waited till 6 months though. Out of those babies, there were a couple who I felt were ready -including one who just swiped things off her Mum's plate and ate it - but I don't really know why the others started so early. From what they said, their babies didn't drink that much milk ( not as much as the 40 oz a day my DS had) and slept fine, so why they started early is a mystery to me.

For what it's worth, the babies I know who had trouble sleeping, didn't sleep any better until they were about 7 months and properly established on 3 proper meals a day, with meat, carbs etc. Spoonfuls of rice, veg etc, seemed to make little difference, IME.

I agree with others that milk is more calorific than veg etc, so more milk may be the way to go. I know that's easy for me to say though.

Good Luck with whatever you decide - only you know your baby, and I'm sure you will do what is best for you both.

Forgot to say, I'm not doing BLW though. My DS is of the view that, why would he bother to feed himelf when he knows I will shovel it in for him..............

My youngest 3 all waited until 6 months, one of those was formula fed from 4 months as I couldn't express enough when I went back to work.

They were all huge babies 98thh centile and all slept through the night by then too.

mine did well except for biting something out my hand i can't reaamember what though

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I don't have any accurate figures, but I do know that 100% of my babies have made it to six months without anything other than breastmilk.

I think it depends on the mum and the support they have aswell. Ds I weaned at 12wks on the HV advice as he was a big baby and seemed to be hungry. With DD1 I was on here more so I waited until she was about 1wk away from 6mths and then did half puree and half BLW. With DD2 she is 7mths this weekend and has been BLW fr around 3/4wks now.

DS2 was actually 27+3 when he first gummed a banana.

I love the exclusive bfeeding days though.

Much easier. And FAR nicer nappies

ds was 7 months before he showed any interest in solid food

Dd was a day before 6 months. It was New Years day and seemed an appropriate day to begin!

yes pistachio, my thoughts exactly!
that 7 months sttling into sleeping better rings a bell for me re my other 2 dss jojay

But it's stinky

it certainly is. am potty training ds2 at present.....

ds was exclusively bf til 6 months. Easily.

Dd I caved in and 5.5 months as she was feeding every 2 hours in daytime, & every 2.5 at night - obviously, it didn't fix it

the one per cent figure relates to bm, though, doesn't it? so the rest must include women who stopped bfing and used formula, rahter than introduced solid food 'early'? [am i being dense emoticon]

all my NCT pals bar one made it to 6 months. the one who wanted to get started early is now the one with the worst allergies, which may be a coincidence of course.

btw, hunker, in Practical Parenting this mont our friend AK says that she advises ignoring dept of health guidelines to wean at 6 months, saying 5 is better. yeah, because if you wait til 6 months they might just start Feeding Themselves and do her out of a job.